Sleeping Dogs Lie

Sleeping Dogs Lie **1/2

"Sleeping Dogs Lie" is a whimsical little dark comedy, but eventually gets a little too contrived and obvious to have any effect. There were many times where I was too aware that I was watching a movie, and it also becomes obvious, especially towards the end, that many scenes and characters were nothing more than plot devices, which I could not care about at all. At it's moral core, it is about keeping your mouth shut when it doesn't need to be open, not just for your sake, but for the sake of others as well. There are some secrets that just are not meant to be told, ever. Total honesty is impossible, as there is always somebody who is going to be negatively affected by it. But then again, isn't it morally correct to be able to be open and honest with some people?

That is the predicament faced by Amy, who appears to be living life on the easy lane. She is a kindergarten teacher, who has a great friend and confidant at work. Her parents basically worship the ground that she walks on, and to top it off she is now engaged to her boyfriend, John. Everything is seemingly perfect, until it comes to the point where she wonders if she should let John know all aspects of her life. And this includes telling him a horrible and disgusting dark secret from when she was in college, all alone except with her dog. She has never told anybody this before, and begins to ask her family for advice. It turns out that everybody has a secret, and it is just better to keep your mouth shut than blab. For example, Amy's father thinks that he is the only man that was ever intimate with his wife, but it turns out that years and years ago her mother was quite the celebrity groupie, even having special moments with Elvis Presley. But Amy decides to tell John what she did, and when she does it sets off a chain of events which slowly destroy every positive relationship she had with her entire family.

The secret that Amy is hiding throughout is revealed in the first three minutes of the film, but I refuse to give it away for shock value. While it is pretty gross and sick, it is the most offensive part in the whole thing. Many will be surprised by how much drama is really here, and it works for the most part. The setup for "Sleeping Dogs Lie" is very good and very funny. It is into the third act where things begin to get a little formulaic. Amy begins a relationship with Ed, her teacher friend at the school she works in, and that is where it lost me. Ed is married, and of course, at the time of Amy's crisis, he is having problems with his wife and will probably get divorced. And then when she and him fight, she eventually comes to her senses and when she is about to profess her love for him, he of course ends up getting back together with his wife. It all became a little bit too obvious, and didn't have the cynical sense of humor from the first half. I also must mention Brian Posehn, whose name you probably don't know but you would recognize. He is one of those actors that is in almost every movie, but you can never pin down. He only appears in about two scenes but steals every single one of them with his casual and down to earth behavior. There is a small speech about midgets and monkeys that is not really very funny, but his delivery makes it memorable. He needs to get out there more. "Sleeping Dogs Lie" is a worthy dark comedy, but it lost me in the end when it becomes a standard romance film. For the most part I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.